Mapping a network drive without hardcoding a drive letter in a batch file

Question

I need to map a network drive with a batch file, but don\'t want to specify the drive letter.

The batch file is used as part of a deployment process; I call the batc

Answer 1

Simplest method:

pushd "\\server\share\wwwroot\My Project"
robocopy . x:\ *.* /E ...etc
popd

Pushd will automatically map a network drive to an available letter, and popd will remove it. They are internal CMD commands; using UNC paths requires extensions enabled. Batch example:

@echo off
pushd %1
  echo. --- Processing %1 as "%cd%"
  echo. ...
  rem do thing here
  echo. Done.
popd

Note: in this implementation using a command line argument, the path on command line must be quoted.

Sample session:

E:\temp>.\demo-pushd.bat "\\server\share\wwwroot\My Project"
 --- Processing "\\server\share\wwwroot\My Project" as "X:\wwwroot\My Project"
    ...
    Done.

E:\temp> net use X:
The network connection could not be found.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2250.
E:\temp>